"The way they removed Rohit Sharma..." - Ex-Pakistan captain levels serious accusations against Mumbai Indians owners

Former Pakistan wicket-keeper batsman Rashid Latif feels that Mumbai Indians’ embarrassing outings in IPL 2024 until now, don’t have anything to do with the players. He believes that the 5-time champions are experiencing such turbulence only because of their franchise owners as well as the coaching staff. After all, it was the management’s decision to move on from Rohit Sharma as the captain of the franchise and bring back all-rounder Hardik Pandya as the captain.

That decision has not panned out well until now as Mumbai Indians haven’t won a single game after the first 3 matches. Their first loss came to the hands of Pandya’s former franchise Gujarat Titans then to Sunrisers Hyderabad and last night against the Rajasthan Royals. While the entire team, the batting unit in particular, could not stand up for the occasion, most of the blame has been directed towards skipper Pandya.

It seems like we all have to get used to crowds booing and jeering him, regardless of whichever venue he goes to play. It was thought that at least in Wankhede the Mumbai Indians captain will not be welcomed like that but it was no different over there. The match did not see home supporters support and back their own captain, something that is well and truly being seen for the first time in IPL history.

Rashid Latif openly questions Mumbai Indians team owners’ mental approach, accuses them of only having yes men in the team

While speaking in a recent YouTube show, Rashid Latif was asked to shed light on this drama unfolding within the Mumbai Indians camp. Therein, Latif openly questioned the mental approach of MI team owners – the Ambani family – and claimed that not just the players’ approach but also the owners’ approach is being reflected on the pitch.

“Their poor performance does not seem to be a problem of playing on the field but more around the team’s mental approach. Their owners’ mental approach is also reflecting on the side,” Latif said via a YouTube video.

Latif went on to further slam Mumbai Indians management for agreeing to every single demand of the franchise owners and acting like yesmen. He accused MI owners of only having yes men in the team who just blindly follow their orders.

The former wicket-keeper batter targeted Mark Boucher, Lasith Malinga, and Kieron Pollard for not having the power and guts to say no to a certain demand and claimed that this is not how an organization becomes successful.

“The decision from MI owners—appointing Mark Boucher, Malinga, Kieron Pollard—it is a huge group, but if there is a diktat (problem) from the top (owners) that this has to be done, then there is no one who has the power to resist or say no. You will get a lot of people who say yes, boss, but those who have the courage to say no are the ones who are successful,” Latif added.

Latif claims Mumbai Indians’ owners are acting like PSL team owners

The biggest statement that Rashid Latif made was by saying that Mumbai Indians’ team owners acted like the team owners of the Pakistan Super League. He further said that MI’s decision to abruptly remove Rohit Sharma was not right and that the appointment of Hardik Pandya was absolutely wrong “as of now”.

“Even in PSL, we have seen owners stamping their authority, and the same can be seen with MI in IPL. The decision to appoint Hardik Pandya as captain was wrong, at least for now. The way they removed Rohit Sharma was also not right,” Latif concluded.